Any thoughts on this book/author? I really enjoyed Sapiens but

I think it is good that someone ponders about the future but can't say I was all that impressed

I really liked Sapiens, excited to read Deus. It's a shame /lit/ doesn't talk much about non-fiction.

Dataism sucks.
Read John Gray's review of the damn thing, he articulates better than anyone why this book is a massive meme.

>>9594783
>scientism meme
Religious fundamentalists are really against the ropes if they're resorting to this.

>>9594861
Really?

>It’s an arresting vision. If you think about it, however, the prospect that the human species could “upgrade itself” to godhood melts away. “Humanity” can’t become God, because “humanity” does not exist. All that actually exists is the multifarious human animal, with its historic enmities and intractable divisions.

So far he just seems obtuse.

>>9594536
It seems more like the author just picked a bunch of shit he thought was interesting and tried to see how far into the future that shit would help humanity based on historical anecdotes.

Good for him for contemplating shit and getting rich public figures to say they like it, but it's not much better than going to a group of Pre-K kids and asking what they think of the future.
>In fact, they'd probably come up with more interesting shit, like a Neal Stephenson book's premise that's actually carried throughout the whole book instead of a garbled text that reads like a fucking horseraddish in a blender with dull blades.
>whirrrrr, clack-clack-clack, vrrrrrrrn, crack

>>9594940
What? Humanism IS a meme, which is to say the vision of humanity as a singular, special animal with a universal history and the ability to conceive of and complete projects for itself as a unit.

>>9594536
I agree whole heartedly with ye. LOVED sapiens, thought deus was meh

>homo deus
I found my new religion

>>9594536
>TEDtalk tier shill for technocapital
no thanks

transhumanism is becoming the established religion among STEMfags and the liberal classes in general. Just look at how redditors worship elon musk, a completely mediocre human, as if he was already a demigod of some sort. It's a reassuring fantasy for a world faced with unprecedented moral and increasingly economic immiseration. It's also a politically convenient fantasy. Back in the USSR, children were taught technocratic utopia was imminent. Post scarcity would arrive somewhere before the turn of the millenium. everything would be free and maybe you won't even have to die after all. What happened after 1989 made it all seem like a cruel joke.

>>9594536
The first one was solid, though there were many things that were contested.

In general, I try to be suspicious of the ((people)) who invented pilpul.

I liked the discussion of the various forms of humanism that have arisen in the 20th century. The problem, I think, is that most of the book is a rehash of Sapiens. Sapiens was a great book, concise and lucid and seemingly the culmination of years of long and careful thought. I think Homo Deus was rushed as a sequel after the enormous success of Sapiens. Not bad, by any means, but you're better off just reading Sapiens.

I hope he takes more time with his next book, because Sapiens was a real delight to read.

>>9596811
Have you even read the book, or are you just talking shit? He literally discusses exactly what you're talking about.

>>9597134
why should I pollute my brain with redditcore/NPR/TED garbage? one should be careful about not reading too many bad books. Specially if everyone else is reading them. That's also why watching 'game of thrones', even ironically, makes you visibly stupider, reduces you to the level of subhuman cattle.

>>9597206
I'll take that as a no.